AUTHOR
Dr Campbell has published 12 books on themes related to digital media and religion.
Digital Religion. The Basics.
(Routledge, 2023)
Digital Religion: The Basics explores how digital media and internet platforms are transforming religious practice in a digital age and the impact this has had on religious culture in contemporary society. Through exploring six defining characteristics of how religion is acted out online, including multisite reality, convergence practice, networked community, storied identity, shifting authority, and experiential authenticity, the book considers how digital religion both shapes, and is influenced by, religion offline
Ecclesiology for a Digital Church
(SCM Press, 2022) edited with John Dyer
Ecclesiology for a Digital Church What are the ecclesiological challenges and opportunities raised by technology? How have developments related to the COVID-19 global health crisis impacted churches, forcing a swift move to mediated and online worship? And how will this change the shape churches of theological and programmatic choices for years to come?
Drawing together a diverse group of theologians and media scholars, this volume considers the key theological question churches and religious leaders need to engage with as they look towards long term strategies involving church life and technology.
Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in Digital Media, 2nd Edition
(Routledge, 2021) edited with Ruth Tsuria
Digital Religion, 2nd edition offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and digital media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of digital media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions..
Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority
(Routledge, 2020)
Digital Creatives explores how authority is conceived of and enacted within the Internet and digital culture through the work of religious digital creatives. These digital creative are software programmers, social media influencers and mobile media designers whose work grants unique status and influence within their religious communities. Churches and denominations are also increasingly employing digital creatives to manage their digital presence in an increasingly technology-driven society. Insights are drawn from an analysis of both religious digital creatives descriptions of their digital innovation, and the technological apologetic they use to justify the spiritual rationale behind the work they feel called to do. This allows for the mapping of the relationship of digital creatives with religious communities they seek to affiliate with and the way authority is enacted and framed within digital culture.
Religion and the Internet, Three Volume Collection
(Routledge, 2017)
Religion and the Internet is a three volume collection of the key scholarly articles and research studies documenting the rise of the interdisciplinary study of new media, religion and digital culture since the 1990's. This collection offers a critical reflection on development of the study of Religion and the Internet over the past three decades. The collection surveys new forms of religious practices emerging online and how religious communities negotiate their engagement with digital technologies . Volume one maps the rise of the study of religious practice online. Volume two documents how international scholars working at the intersection of Media Studies, Religious studies and the Sociology of Religion have approached questions of religious community, identity and authority online. Volume three focuses on highlighting dominant theoretical and methodological approaches currently employed within the study of Digital Religion.
Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture
(Baker Academic, 2016) with Stephen Garner
Networked Theology presents a discussion between theology of technology and media studies on the religious and ethical implications of how we consume digital technologies. It aim to offer critical reflection on the impact of the new generation of media on our social and religious lives. Combining research from digital religion studies with theology, the authors synthesize scholarly work on religion and the internet for a nonspecialist audience. They show that both media studies and theology offer important resources for helping Christians engage in a thoughtful and faith-based critical evaluation of the effect of new media technologies on society, our lives, and the church.
Digital Judaism. Jewish Negotiations with Digital Media and Culture
(Routledge, 2015)
Digital Judaism presents an analysis of how and why various Jewish groups negotiate with digital culture in particular ways, situating such observations within a wider discourse of how Jewish groups throughout history have utilized communication technologies to maintain their Jewish identities across time and space. Chapters address issues related to the negotiation of authority between online users and offline religious leaders and institutions not only within ultra-Orthodox communities, but also within the broader Jewish religious culture, taking into account how Jewish engagement with media in Israel and the diaspora raises a number of important issues related to Jewish community and identity.
Playing with Religion in Digital Games
(Univ of Indiana Press, 2014) with Gregory Price Grieve
From the Shinto-inspired Japanese video game Okami to the internationally popular The Legend of Zelda and Halo, many video games rely on religious themes and symbols to drive the narrative and frame the storyline. Playing with Religion in Digital Games explores the increasingly complex relationship between gaming and global religious practices.
Digital Religion. Understanding Religious Media Practice in New Media Worlds
(Routledge, 2012)
Digital Religion offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and new media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of new media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions. From cell phones and video games to blogs and Second Life, and drawing together the work of experts from key disciplinary perspectives. This overview of an emerging area of study highlights important theoretical, ethical and theological issues raised within Digital Religion studies.
When Religion Meets New Media
(Routledge, 2010)
When Religion Meets New Media focuses on how different Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities engage with new media. Rather than simply reject or accept new media, religious communities negotiate complex relationships with these technologies in light of their history and beliefs. Campbell suggests a new method for studying these processes called the “religious-social shaping of technology” (RSST) and scholars are asked to consider four key areas in their research: religious tradition and history; contemporary community values and priorities, negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community; communal discourses applied to justify use.
A Science and Religion Primer
(Baker Academic, 2009) with Heather Looy
The relationship between science and religion are often portrayed as adversarial. Yet some scholars view the disciplines as allies that complement each other. Other scholars consider them to be discrete entities. Without a doubt, the interface of the two disciplines is complex and nuanced, and each has much to learn from the other. A Science and Religion Primer provides a guide to this conversation. This landmark work is simultaneously an encyclopedia, an annotated bibliography, and a survey.
Exploring Religious Community Online. We are one in the network
(Peter Lang, 2005)
Exploring Religious Community Online is the first comprehensive study of the development and implications of online communities for religious groups. This book investigates religious community online by examining how Christian communities have adopted internet technologies, and looks at how these online practices pose new challenges to offline religious community and culture.
The Oxford Handbook for Digital Religion
(Oxford University Press, Forthcoming)
More info found at: https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/44728
God and Technology
(Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming)